Nomi Prins on mortgage meltdown, Kamau Karl Franklin on HR 1955

This week on CounterSpin: a special look at two stories. One of them has received significant media attention that you might not always understand; the other is a story that’s flown under the media radar altogether. Turmoil in the housing market has been pinned on Wall Street’s appetite for so-called subprime mortgages. With house prices declining and foreclosures heading the other direction, the media are now sifting through the debris to tell us what happened. But what should we have known all along? And who exactly is being rescued now? Journalist Nomi Prins will join us to explain.

Also on the show: Despite its disturbing name, the virtual silence of the corporate press corps would have us believe The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act making its way through Congress is nothing you need concern yourself about. Our guest disagrees. We’ll hear from Kamau Karl Franklin, Racial Justice Fellow at the Center for Constitutional Rights.